'Elections will not change anything. But they can change my life'. Manipulation of the electoral process and self-making of small politicians in Andhra Pradesh. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Picherit, David
• Is Part Of: Commonwealth & comparative politics. Volume 58:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 82
• Page End: 99
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Andhra Pradesh -- elections -- manipulation -- henchmen -- entrepreneurship -- performance; Comparative government -- Periodicals; Institutions politiques comparées -- Périodiques; 320.9171241
• DOI: 10.1080/14662043.2020.1700020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-2043

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Based on an ethnographic case study of the 2014 electoral process in a small town of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, this article explores the tensions between the self-making of political entrepreneurs, the loyalties to political leaders and the everyday making of electoral manipulation. By looking at the Dalit henchmen of bosses-political candidates, it argues that electoral democracy is considered by henchmen as an issue of life and death: by performing electoral manipulation, they have the opportunity to appear as men of resources, capable of extraordinary actions, and to transform their precarious social and political positions.